Gleefully playing with established tropes, the three films Elena and Manuela discuss in this new episode of Hard Truths toe the line between comedy and terror, irony and sincerity, fiction and reality: early true crime spoof Man Bites Dog (Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel, 1992), meta franchise sequel Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), and French “slasher” High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003). Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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1:04:05
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1:04:05
Joachim Trier
It’s only a matter of time before Joachim Trier wins a Best Picture Oscar. In this new episode of Hard Truths, Elena and Manuela damn the Norwegian director with faint praise but also give him his flowers as they discuss three of his best known films: Oslo, August 31st (2011), The Worst Person in the World (2021), and his latest, Sentimental Value (2025). Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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59:13
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59:13
Jukebox; or, You’re Not the Only One With Problems
What unites the three apparently very different films of this 10th, Jukebox episode of Hard Truths? In Sidney Lumet’s The Offence (1972), Sean Connery plays a detective-sergeant who has seen too much. Milton Moses Ginsberg’s underseen, Rip Torn-starring arthouse gem Coming Apart (1969) charts the psychological unravelling of a New York psychiatrist who takes to recording his clients’ appointments without their knowledge. Finally in Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing (2025), Austin Butler’s aimless bartender confronts past trauma via a whole new bunch of trauma. That’s right: all three films are about men’s pain – and, to varying degrees, about the sense of entitlement of these struggling lead protagonists. Elena and Manuela leave no stones unturned as they discuss these three films by way of Severance, the manosphere, and the corporate girlies.Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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1:25:12
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1:25:12
Julia Ducournau
From the ultraviolence of Raw (2016) to the over-the-top silliness of Palme d’Or-winner Titane (2021) and the emo intensity of Alpha (2025): the cinema of French director Julia Ducournau is hard to ignore. With Alpha now playing in French cinemas, Elena and Manuela gather in London to talk about the ideas lurking behind these films’ infamous shock value.Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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1:20:13
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1:20:13
Ari Aster
With just four feature films, American filmmaker Ari Aster has established himself as one of the foremost voices of our phone-addicted, psychically damaged, paranoid generation. As his 2020-set neo-western Eddington comes out in cinemas this summer, Elena and Manuela—recording together in the rich soundscape of Elena’s garden—discuss the film (without any spoilers) in light of Aster’s previous work, and vice versa: from the perspective of Aster’s absurdist masterwork Beau Is Afraid (2023), the humour in his breakout horror hit Hereditary (2018) becomes much more apparent, while the director’s cut of Midsommar (2019) reveals a biting, darkly funny takedown of gaslighting and cowardice in relationships, and in all of human behaviour. Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart.
Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho., all eps of The French Dispatch podcast, and more: https://animus-magazine.ghost.io/#/portal/signup
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